make it back. they are worried, but optimistic. >> the weather has been a big factor in the search effort. you know, there is always concern in these moments. >> prepared. this is not their first rodeo. i know a lot of people are saying east coast pipers in the west probably are not prepared. they were prepared. >> they are hoping for a positive outcome. >> we are staying positive and doing what we can for the family and saying prayers. >> the two hiker's met when they were in vet school at virginia tech. they had been planning for this trip for months, including our rigorous training plan. >> he was a gentle giant. we will keep our prayers'.

>> we have prayer is not only for the family, but everyone looking for him. >> authorities out at glacier national park say there is 18 inches of snow in some of the higher elevations on the trail. but they do not believe the two men are mountain climbing. they are just hiking. family and friends are hoping that they just went someplace to get out of the gut -- out of the elements and they will be found soon. >> his wife is hoping that he will be found soon. hiser's wife is pregnant with their first job. >> isn't that nice weather? >> it feels good outside. >> let's get right to doug hill and the weather center and. >> hey leon, alison.

we see clouds and a cold front. there is the futurescan. there is one final line of showers we are keeping an eye on. one is moving through colombia and just east of montgomery county. we have these two areas moving off. over the next couple of hours all of this will move through. these guys will clear. it is verynow. 70 degrees in the nation's capital. once we see the showers clear out, 66 degrees, temperatures will drop closer to 60 degrees and we expect temperatures closer to 55 degrees tomorrow morning. we will have the seven-day forecast coming up. >> thank you. two police officers are accused

of beating a university of maryland students. that beating was caught on tape. today the student at the center of the case took the stand. we are live from the courthouse with the latest. >> john mckenna did speak today really his first comments on the matter. he said he just wanted to go out and celebrate with friends. he said he was drinking. he was not drunk. but he also said he does not remember much about that night after an officer slammed him into the wall. call him at state exhibit one -- prosecutors showed the jury this video of john mckenna's encounter with police almost immediately after they arrived in court. prosecutors say that's reginald

baker and james harrison of used their power and broke the law. -- abused their power and broke the law. >> i lost sleep over it. just seeing completely innocent students get beaten severely. >> his cell phone camera was running that night, too. he testified that john mckenna was a threat to know one. >> he skipped past me, singing the notre dame son. he was in jovial spirits. >> the defense attorneys moth that characterization of mckenna. they called him "yippy skippy." the defense claims what happened that night was an appropriate use of force and was ordered by police commanders.

>> even though they tried to say he was acting in a threatening manner -- i think any reasonable person would say that is absolutely ridiculous. >> no real bombshells in john mckenna's testimony. he did say he was unaware that the videotape was right there. the trial resumes tomorrow. abc7 news. >> police are investigating the stabbing of a 15-year-old student at school. this happened at northwood high school in silver spring. the victim was taken to the hospital with minor injuries and is recovering. >> an episode of "america's most wanted" has generated new tips for the search of a killer. the virginia tech student was last seen after a metallica

show. the suspect in a 2005 sexual assault case in fairfax county has been linked to the harrington case. >> a massive fire at a unit over the weekend. is started in a storage unit in manassas destroying 75% of the unit. we have more on what was left in that fire. >> investigators are still there. they know where it started, but not what sparked the fire. many came by concerned and ascared the loss of their valuables. >> and she rushed over to check on her stuff. she heard about the fire andquickly thought about her family valuables. she also thought about her niece who has her entire apartment stored in one of the building's. >> i called her immediately. she still does not know.

>> they do not know what happened. >> last night firefighters rushed to be manassas store-all. >> we saw motorcycles, a lot of housewares. >> firefighters say the spread quickly. a man who would not go on camera told us a card collection, video games were stored inside his unit. he hopes they are still there. she will not rest until she sees her valuables yourself. we wanted to know how customers can find out if their valuables were damaged. the given number customers can call. we posted that number on our website -- wjla.com. abc7 news. >> ok, thank you very much. 20 days until voters had to the

polls. president obama and mitt romney are preparing for their next debate. it will be held tomorrow night in a town hall style setting it at hofstra university. president obama is practicing in virginia today. his campaign predicts he will be feistier this time around. meanwhile, romney is preparing in his massachusetts home tonight. you can watch the debate live on abc7. you can go to our website. you can give us your instant reaction to the debate. leon? >> usually there is football talk around the water cooler. but we are going to start today with felix baumgartner and his 23-mile long plummet to earth. it was incredible. we have more reaction to that

crazy jump. >> 8 million watched it live on youtube. it turns out it was not some evil can evil dare devil like studs. -- evil can evil -- evil kneviel their double stunt. >> felix baumgartner landed in the history books. never had anyone jump from that height. never hadnyone broken the sound barrier without an aircraft. at the smithsonian, folks were still buzzing about. >> i thought it was spectacular. you have got to admire the guy and his huge courage to do a. >> i was like, oh, my god. i do not think anyone can do that. >> but is there any more to it than the wow factor? experts say that's his jumped in help scientists learn about

high altitude rescue. >> that is something that has never been done before. no one was sure if anyone could survive it. he has proven that a person with this superior suits have can survive a fall like that. >> and some think that felix may have accomplished something else. >> i think kids these days grew up looking at neil armstrong and now it is going to be him. he is going to be the cool guy. >> the suit with sensors and telemetry -- that is the data that scientists are waiting to get their hands on. abc7 news. >> i know what i was thinking. i was so worried about. thank you. coming up -- what started a fire has left a group of prince

george's county citizens a homeless tonight. >> and how the nhl lockout is affecting the verizon center. >> snowma maryland schools are number

one in america because we invest

in the but we can do even more. every year marylanders spend five hundred and fifty million dollars at casinos in other states. question 7 keeps that maryland money in maryland through expansion of gaming in maryland. it will mean hundreds of millions of dollars for our schools. as governor, i can promise you that money will go to education. that's the law and that's what we'll do. vote for question seven.

>> turning now to the latest developments in the nationwide outbreak of fungal meningitis. meanwhile, pa. it is the 15th state to report a case of meningitis tied to the steroid shots or back pain. at least 200 people have become infected. so far 15 people of died. >> hopefully we are many weeks away from our first snow of the season. >> many weeks. >> we can all hope. but officials want to make sure that everyone is ready. >> that's right. we have a look at how the city is preparing. >> we are standing here in

october because last winter was so unusually mild. dare i say warm. they are hoping that two years ago, 2010, does not happen again, but if it does, we will have enough trucks and enough salt. the winter of 2010, back-to-back blizzards, snowmaggedon. the d.c. area was buried four days. council member larry tate was no fan back then. >> i thought we were caught flatfooted. >> will the city be ready if this coming winter producers of lizard that shut everything down again? -- produces a blizzard that shut everything down again? >> we are ready. >> it is still hard, much harder than it should of been for the residents. >> the city purchase 45 new snow

plows, and this time around the city has a contract for 50 additional heavy plows if needed. >> we were overwhelmed. i am glad we have got more. >> the city has parked and ready to go and contingency plans for the upcoming storm season. in 2010, the salt around the city when dry. and now the city has contracts with not one, but two companies to get more salt if needed. and new monitoring is in place so they will get attention sooner. >> we still have a problem. >> and you are looking at one of those brand new it trucks ready to go if needed. should we expect snowmaggedon ii this year? i am not an expert.

i have spoken to doug hill, who is getting ready to speak to your. 8 says it has been an unusually mild winter. for more on that, back to you. >> you are an expert. remember her in 2000 yen? >> she is an expert on reporting on it. >> i think it is safe that it will be colder than last winter. but it is too early to go there. we are still nine weeks away from the beginning of winter, waiting for the weather patterns do start to establish. in the meantime, let's check out what is happening right now. this is cool. you can see the live shot from a rooftop camera. looking east across the city. you see a little sunshine east of town. the darkness of the top of the screen, a heavy band of clouds that is a cold front moving

through right now. we know that because there is a wind shift precipitation falling temperatures. we have about a quarter inch of rain. wins out of the northeast. germantown, the winds are common now -- calm now. here is what we have with the front. is pretty much like this up to the baltimore-columbia area. calverton area, east of laurel, howard county, gaithersburg. here is some lightning we are detecting in this one. northward to call upper county. temperatures -- culpeper county. temperatures will turn cooler over nine. some of those cool winds start

to blow in. 73 in culpeper and fredericksburg. 70 degrees as far north as boston right now the bank farther northwest, a shell in the air. before long, we start to see the chill in these temperatures. no indications of cool air next week. we will tend to stay at or above the average temperature-wise. skies will clear. chilly, but not terribly cold. high pressure in the driver's seat tomorrow. that will give us a day of sunshine in the mid-62's. a couple of degrees below average. -- in the mid 60's. a couple degrees below average. it heads to lower 70's for next thursday, friday before the next cold front. and that brings another chance

of showers on friday. if you are looking for cold weather, be patient. it is coming. just not in the near future. about 59 in the city. 50 it downtown. beautiful day. close to 60 degrees by lunchtime. then we have a warm-up headed this way. next on friday -- cooling off on saturday, starting to warm up on sunday and monday. and the leaves are turning color. this will be a great weekend for leaf watchers. >> gorgeous. it is going to be great. thank you very much. a very special guest tonight on "dancing with the stars." paula abdul. she will go back to her choreographer roots as a guest judge denied.

-- as a guest judge denied. that is tonight followed by "castle," followed by ab said -- abc7 news that 11:00. >> the new movie "argo." >> i just got so sick. >> more people have reported getting sick from salmonella- tainted peanut butter products.

>> the recall of products containing salmonella-tainted peanuts is expanding. >> the one thing that they all have in common, a company. >> the nationwide peanut recall is expanding and more people are getting sick. >> i have eaten peanut butter three days in a row. i got so sick. >> barbara claims to be one of dozens sicken in 19 states. the list of contaminated products is now 10 pages long and includes more than 400 products including moon pies ice cream, and peanut butter.

the contamination has been traced to this factory in new mexico. >> all of the cases investigated are related to peanut products from the one plans. >> they sell both raw and roasted peanuts and make peanut butter brands for trader joe's, target walmart, and whole foods. barbara purchase terpene of butter before it was pulled -- purchased her peanut butter before it was pulled from store shelves. she believes more are at risk. >> i have been feeding peanut butter to my dogs. seriously, this is a big deal. my friend has grand kids and she did not know anything about it. >> you can check the products by going to the fda website. >> we also have for you a list

of the hundreds of products included in this peanut recall on our website wjla.com. >> a new study says children are not getting enough sleep. researchers found that getting an average of 27 minutes of additional rest can improve emotions and limit disruptive behavior in class as well. and our more sleep -- >> researchers have more information on where the mysterious eyeball that washed up on florida beaches came from. >> tonight, the untold story of the only americans killed during that crisis and be tied to our area. >> many residents are [ tt romney

] look at the evidence of the last four years. we've got 23 mlion people out of work or stopped looking for work. they're suffering in this country. the president would prefer raising taxes. the problem with raising taxes is that it slows down the rate of growth. i'm not going to raise taxes on anyone because when the economy's growing slow likehis, when we're in recession you shouldn't raise taxes on anyone. my plan is to bring down rates to get more people working. my priority is putting people back to work in america. i'm mitt romney and i approve this message.

>> you are watching abc 7 news 5:00 on your side. captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org-- >> several residents are homeless after a fire raged through an apartment complex. >> officials say could have been worse. >> as you can see the apartment building is a shudder to nine and many of those families are being sheltered -- is shuddered -- shuttered tonight and many of those families are being sheltered. they are also saying things. their recovery effort began speaking for the nearly one dozen families to call this building on, the road to recovery will be a long one. she was not home when an unattended space heater ignited

a fire. but her six-month old daughter and boyfriend were inside. >> i thought they were dead. >> but thanks to the quick actions of two good samaritans, her boyfriend and daughter escaped the flames along with everyone else inside. anthony was one of those good samaritans to notice the claims and jumped into action. >> at that point i set up a fire alarm at the fire station. >> the fast-moving fire destroyed most of the apartments on the second and third floors. >> i could not get up to the third floor because of the smoke. and the heat was intents. >> the remaining apartments suffered smoke and water damage. residents tried to salvage what little they already -- what little they could, thankful they were alive. >> one woman who lived here had six children of her on.

not a single person who lived in this apartment building had renter's insurance. abc7 news. >> thank you. now for a look at the other top stories today. the search continues for two missing in virginia hikers in montana. they were supposed to fly home last friday. their friends are worried, but they remain optimistic. >> firefighters in manassas are trying to determine what caused a three-alarm fire at a storage facility that broke out last night's. 80 units were damaged or destroyed. fortunately no one was hurt. >> and it was an incredible space jump caught on fire. felix baumgartner known as fearless felix completed a free fall jumping from the stratosphere on sunday.

he became the first human to break the sound barrier without a vehicle. what did it actually feel like to freefall at 800 miles per hour? diane sawyer will have more on that story. and what else can we expect. good evening, diane. a lot of people are talking about the possibility of the chinese government influencing our schools? >> that's right, leon. we know they have a lot of money, but did you know they already paying to send teachers into your schools and chinese language teachers. -- language teachers? >> another story -- that free fall, the man who jumped from almost the edge of space? >> unbelievable. tonight we will take you inside his suit to show you the affects on the human body as you hurdle

24 miles to earth. >> i cannot even imagine. looking forward to it, diane. we will see you soon. and that will be right after abc7 news at 6:00. >> an elementary school when all-out pink for its principal. lucretia jackson is recovering from breast cancer treatment. and today all the students and teachers at matthew maury elementary put on paid to support her. she says she hopes there is a lesson for her students to learn here. >> i want more than anything to give back and for them to know they can help others. that is what we try to instill in our children. >> jackson had been out of school for several months for chemotherapy and radiation treatments. everyone is glad that she is healthier than ever. and looking prettier in pink.

>> today ad apart in northwest d.c. -- that segment will connect trails in d.c. and maryland. it will also connect stations along the anacostia river tributary system. >> we are seeing some heavy traffic on 395 crossing the 14th street bridge. on the southbound, there are delays not far from the wilson bridge. you -- your travel lanes are now open. the inner loop of the beltway delays in virginia, heading up toward the 270 spur, and a lot of this is because of the police activity on the north shoulder paging -- shoulder.

we have the report of a vehicle fire. very slow on the inner loop their. outer delays past new hampshire for the accident scene on university boulevard. traffic going towards you on university boulevard past the accident. you can see is a very slow roll trying to get past the crash on new hampshire on the outer loop. back to you. >> thanks. >> coming up tonight -- the nhl season is on ice. we will take a look at all businesses at the verizon center are being affected. >> it is not quite good enough. >> meet the cia spy who inspired been affleck's july thriller, coming up. >> and see who was to put up signs in metro stations

scott pelley: "you made on your investments, personally, about $20 million last year, and you paid 14% in federal taxes, that's the capital gains rate. is that fair to the guy who makes $50,000 and paid a higher rate than you did? so you think it is fair?" romney: "yeah, i think it's the right way to encourage economicwt growth." lower tax rates for him...than us. is that the way to grow america? i'm barack obama, and i approve this message.

>> it looks like ben affleck's new movie "argo" is getting lots

of attention. >> demand the movie is based on -- the man the movie is based on was that the premier. >> it is a great question. who would play you in a movie? for me, people say will for brambly. "argo" celebrates one of the cia's most audacious capers. in "argo," ben affleck plays cia operative ton aetnay mendez -- tony mendez who comes up with a plan to get hostages out of iran. tony mendez told the story in his book "argo: how the cia and

hollywood pulled up the most audacious rescue in history." >> you have to check your gut every now and then. if it feels right, it is right. >> now retired from the agency, and he writes, paints, and cracks wise. >> it was hard to find someone could it looking enough to play me. >> "argo" made just all little less than "taken 2." you may you run into him around town because he is one of the founding members of the spy museum. it is a great book, i understand. i say go see it. i think it is an oscar contender. >> thank you. >> all right.

we have more on that eyeball. researchers say they know where it came from. >> it was a huge sacrifice that he made. >> and the only american killed during the cuban missile crisis reveals new ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ [ male

announcer ] combine the pnc cashbuilder visa credit card with a qualifying pnc performance select checking account and earn 75% more than cards earning 1% cash back on almost everything.

>> now to a developing story tonight. the young pakastani girl who was shot in the head and neck by the taliban as in england and for treatment. her name is malala, and she was targeted for her criticism of the taliban. the taliban have vowed to target her again until she is kills'. >> it has been 50 years since the cuban missile crisis, but we're still learning new details about a scary time in our nation's history.

>> the only american killed has ties to our area. 50 years ago tomorrow, president john f. kennedy was shown secret photos. that triggered the crisis where an american pilot was shot down. it turns out he has family in our area. >> unmistakable evidence has established the fact that a series of missile sites -- >> president kennedy stunned america with the news. nuclear missiles in cuba, just 90 miles from florida. reconnaissance photos were taken by major rudolph anderson. >> he went to the high school where my mother went. they were first cousins. very close. he was a very nice guy very affable. but again, a very private individual. >> he recalls reunions, never

realizing that rudy would become the only american under fire in the crisis. >> an american was shot down. the fire against our low altitude surveillance. >> was the pilot killed? >> that dramatic audio part of the exhibit at the national archive chronicling the standoff between america and castro. >> the cuban missile crisis was really the most dangerous confrontation in history. it has closest the world has ever been to nuclear weapon. >> the exhibit includes a letter to major anderson's widow and a personal hand written note. >> we feel the loss. >> we showed the letter to

george folsom. >> very, very touching. >> the crisis ended with christoph -- crows jeff -- the soviet premier removing the missiles. >> we have learned that the soviets did not authorize the shooting down of the pilot. >> something else that is fascinating in a different way -- the mystery of the eyeball. it has been solved. researchers believe this trade giant eyeball belongs to a swordfish and not a giant squid. it washed ashore in south florida last wednesday at the sparked much speculation about where it came from. genetic testing will confirm where it came from, but judging by the color size, and the bone

around the eye, they believe it was from a swordfish. >> us swordfish. >> i giant swordfish. >> ok, that got our attention. let's see what is coming up at 6:00. >> gordon peterson has a look ahead. >> president obama and mitt romney are preparing for tomorrow night's second presidential debate. we will see where the polls are just 20 days and two debate away from election night in america. and the walter reed army medical center has been sitting empty for about a year, but there is talk of turning it into a town center. we will have more at 6:00. >> ok. we will see you in a few minutes. >> doug, how's it looking up there? " it's kind of cloudy. -- >> it is kind of cloudy. let's get right to the camera.

we recorded these images between 4:00 23:30. you are -- for clocked 20:30. it is kind of turbulence. note been associated with that. definitely a very, very menacing looking sites. it is rolling ahead of some showers. do you see -- the rain is actually north and east of the city up to seven baltimore on the curtis bay. the second part in manassas, southwest towards culpeper. all of this is associated with warm moist air. the actual cold front is producing some showers. we will see skies clear. it will turn cooler deceiving. cooler air, but not a lot

colder overnight. we will drop temperatures overnight. enjoy tomorrow, 62 degrees to 68 degrees. generally, we have very mild autumn weather. hey, you can check out acts -- at wjla.com. all right, back to you. >> ok. >> if anyone in this town is non -- is not an rg iii believer -- >> amen. everybody is still talking talkingrg iii. he is fearless. the result? victory over the vikings. robert crippen -- griffen iii is

all a blur. >> the coach said he felt me while pass 10. >> i am watching him run down the sidelines. it was like a 400-meter run. just relax. >> it happened on a critical third-down late in the fourth quarter. >> everybody does told him "slide, slide, slide." and they were going "keep going keep going." >> he even looked over his shoulder at the defense chasing him. >> he was looking back at them. i mean -- he is versatile. that is what he does. >> factor in that the run it started behind the line of scrimmage. he went 84 yards in 10.5 seconds. >> honestly, man.

>> and when he was done, rg iii took a seat with the fedex faithful. >> fans, you have got to love them. a couple guys in particular came to me and said you can stop smiling by wed.. i was all smiles. i will definitely watch that. >> we will take another look back at 6:00 in sports. it is unbelievable. did you see that call in the yankee game? in any -- eighth inning. omar makes a wide turn at second. out of there the umpire, jeff nelson calls him safe. that will bring recall that -- replay back into baseball.

they have to bring it back to the game. >> all right. >> thank you, tim. we have breaking news about those hikers. the man from virginia have been found alive. we're told they walked out of the woods. rescuers saw them and picked them up. jason hiser and neal peckens

>> hockey fans are anxiously waiting to hear what happens when officials tried to resolve the lockout. >> the fans aren't the only ones. we have more on how businesses are being affected by this at the verizon center. >> the lockout is already causing huge losses. some down here to not know how long they can survive. >> no money, no nothing. >> he says for all the years he

has walked -- worked outside the verizon center, he has never seen business this bad. and it is getting worse. >> now it is nothing. >> he is used to making $300 or $400 after any capitals game. >> we would be doing 30% more business. >> and the sports bar across from the verizon center, they are praying for the dispute to be resolved san. losing the capitals crowd means losing a huge chunk of business. and this restaurant is feeling the pinch. >> now you could look for a pop on hawking @. >> on game nights, this place is

packed. now that the season is over, they are cutting back, holding on, and hoping the lockout ends san. >> the preseason, we missed. >> cancel thru october 24. the two signs me in the labor dispute tomorrow, but there is no report of a resolution. >> that is it for abc7 news about o'clock. coming up -- >> new polls show how important the presidential debate tomorrow is. >> and a new metro ads going up. that after the controversial ads from last week. >> and talk about a ton setter in the distric